


May/December

by snakeling



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-06
Updated: 2006-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 04:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeling/pseuds/snakeling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"There were times when Snape wondered what he had been thinking."</p>
            </blockquote>





	May/December

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cordelia_V](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Cordelia_V).



There were times when Snape wondered what he had been thinking. Taking up a relationship with so young a man, barely out of his teens, for God’s sake!

Of course, there were perquisites to the situation. Harry’s skin was soft and smooth; his body was supple, able to adopt even the most outlandish positions; he could come multiple times in one night, and still be ready for another go in the morning.

But his conversation was inane; his view of the world was still mostly black and white, even though the war should have taught him otherwise; and his tastes in jokes hopelessly ran towards the scatological. His most annoying flaw, though, was the way he could get up in arms so quickly when he perceived something as “not fair”.

Like now.

He had locked himself in the study, and Snape certainly wasn’t about to ask him to get out and come into their warm bed, which wasn’t warm at all, without Harry in it.

Snape paced into the bedroom, throwing glances at the empty bed. He carefully didn’t think about the fact that he had gone to bed alone for forty-odd years before Harry entered his life. At the beginning, Snape would wake every time Harry shifted in his sleep; now he couldn’t imagine falling asleep without a warm body snuggled against his side.

Snape sighed. Maybe he should just forget his pride for once, and go down coax Harry out of the study. There was a part of Snape that balked at that, but another urged him to do it, and it was slowly winning.

Snape sighed again and made his decision. He shouldn’t cave in, but he couldn’t expect Harry to behave maturely and make the first step.

Slowly, he turned the handle and pulled the door open. He crossed the corridor to the stairs and walked down every step. He didn’t want to do this; he didn’t want not to do it.

His hand slid down the bannister, finding the familiar scars of the aged wood. His feet seemed to grow heavier and heavier, until raising them and setting them down on the next step felt like a Herculean task.

But he had to do it. Be the adult in their relationship.

He reached the last step and paused on the carpet spread at the bottom of the stairs. From there he could see the large door to the study. It was closed, just as he had expected, and there was a golden shimmer along the edges that suggested that Harry hadn’t merely settled for a Muggle key.

As he was watching, the golden haze vanished. Snape held his breath; the door slowly turned on its hinges, revealing the room behind.

* * *

Harry slid out of the room and turned to pull the door closed. The thing was old and heavy and required both hands, especially as it was one of the few things in Number Twelve Grimmauld Place that neither Snape nor Harry had managed to unenchant, and it thoroughly resisted the use of magic to close it.

The thought of Snape made Harry falter for an instant, but his resolve was strong. He couldn’t go on acting like a teenager, leaving off in a snit every time something disagreed with him.

As a twenty-one-year old, he wanted people to treat him like an adult. He probably should begin by behaving like one. And acting mature and grown-up meant acknowledging when he was in the wrong, and adapting his behaviour to fit his new-found knowledge.

Someone coughed politely behind him and Harry repressed a start. He took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, then turned and stepped towards Severus. He came close enough to touch him, but for once he kept his hands to himself. Harry worried his lips with his teeth, struggling for the right words.

“I apologise. I acted rashly and did not give any thoughts to either the situation or your feelings. I’m sorry, please forgive me?”

There. That was mature and adult.

A finger lifted his chin and his eyes plunged into Severus’s unfathomable ones. Harry pushed all of his contriteness and sincerity at the front of his mind, for once hoping that Severus would use Legilimency.

The silence stretched out, and Harry grew nervous. What if that had been the last straw? Their relationship wasn’t the easiest one, and they frequently indulged in screaming matches at each other, but Severus had never said or indicated that he minded.

What if Severus had decided that he was too young, too immature, to deal with? The thought that Severus could leave was terrifying, worse than his worst nightmare.

At last, Severus talked.

“I accept your apologies, Harry, but in the future, I’d appreciate it if you could think before you act.”

Harry flamed up and he nodded guiltily. Hesitantly, he stepped forward, opening his arms.

* * *

Snape sighed the sigh of the long-suffering and drew Harry in his embrace. He remembered something Albus had said him when he had first began teaching: Young people were a lot of work, but they grew up and learnt, and that was a teacher’s best reward, wasn’t it? Maybe it also was a lover’s.


End file.
